Former Pennsylvania senator and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum said it would be "suicidal" for his political party to support marriage equality.

"I'm sure you could go back and read stories, oh, you know, 'The Republican Party's gong to change. This is the future.' Obviously, that didn't happen," Santorum told the Des Moines Register. "I think you're going to see the same stories written now, and it's not going to happen. The Republican Party's not going to change on this issue. In my opinion, it would be suicidal if it did."

Santorum's statement comes after current Republican senators Rob Portman of Ohio and Mark Kirk of Illinois, have joined dozens of Senate Democrats who have voiced their support for marriage equality.

Santorum added that the American people have not carefully thought about the how establishing marriage equality would affect the country. He also said that the Supreme Court would not "make the same mistake" with ruling on the DOMA and Proposition 8 challenges the court recently heard, as it did with Roe v. Wade.

"I'm hopeful the Supreme Court learned its lesson about trying to predict where the American public is going on issues and trying to find rights in the Constitution that sit with the fancy of the day."

Santorum is headed to Iowa to speak at a fundraiser for the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition.